Orange Danish

David got back home late Saturday night after being at a music education conference for a few days, so I wanted to make him a special welcome home breakfast on Sunday morning. Ever since he was little, one of his favorite things to eat for breakfast is orange flavored cinnamon rolls (he calls them "orange danish"). I hate to buy the prepackaged kind at the store because they have so many preservatives and chemicals in them, so this time I thought I'd make him some homemade orange danish.

Orange Danish
Adapted from GRIT Magazine
Makes 9 rolls

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 t orange zest
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 T butter, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened soy milk)
Additional melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 450 F. Heat 1/4 cup butter, orange juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and orange zest in a small saucepan until boiling. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Pour into greased 9-cup muffin tin.
2) Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cold cubed butter. Add milk and stir until dough follows fork. Knead together and roll dough out into 1/4" thickness.
3) Brush the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll as for jelly roll, then cut into 1" slices. Place cut side down on top of orange mixture in muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.

The best part about these rolls is how the bottoms get so gooey, sticky, and delicious. The rolls cook on top of the orange syrup mixture in the muffin tin so the wonderful orange taste permeates throughout. It's not too strong of a flavor, but just a nice hint of orange so it's a little different from a typical cinnamon roll.

Have you ever tried orange flavored cinnamon rolls?

~Tammy